Intravenous catheter care has been used on patients for hundreds of years. Peripheral intravenous catheter (herein referred to collectively as “IV catheter”) placement is one of the most common invasive procedures performed on patients. After cleaning a catheter site, a catheter needle is inserted into a vein of a patient. However, traditional methods of cleaning the catheter insertion site (for example, a quick swabbing of the insertion region by an alcohol swab or other antiseptic solution) are inadequate to eliminate risks of contamination or infection. Germs and bacteria commonly inhabit layers of the skin underneath the surface layer. For example, up to 80% of resident microorganisms can inhabit the first 5 layers of the skin's stratum corneum, and up to 20% of the remaining microorganisms exist in biofilms in the underlying epidermal and dermal layers and sebaceous glands. Traditional techniques of applying an adhesive film dressing therefore will cover and incubate such germs at or near the insertion site. Such contamination can lead to various infections and complications, such as blood stream infection and/or phlebitis, among others. Furthermore, traditional adhesive catheter securement techniques inhibit normal skin respiration and/or ventilation processes and also raise the humidity and/or temperature levels underneath the adhesive materials. This in turn can also promote microorganism growth.
Another disadvantage of traditional catheter securement devices and techniques is that firmly fixing the catheter device to a patient's skin results in the catheter cannula tip being improperly angled within the vein and/or vein wall or lumen such that the cannula tip can erode or otherwise cause damage to the vein and/or vein wall or lumen and/or surrounding regions. Such erosion or other damage can be exacerbated when the patient moves or the catheter cannula tip is otherwise altered in its angle or position. In traditional approaches, after inserting a needle and/or catheter into a patient. A care provider typically applies a series of tapes in order to stabilize the catheter in an attempt to prevent catheter movement. Unfortunately, IV catheters applied in this manner have a very high failure rate. These failures are due to a variety of reasons including mechanical failures or occlusion, dislodgment, infection, phlebitis (inflammation of the vein that can lead to blood clots), and infiltration to surrounding tissue. Moreover, even without any of these failures, commonly accepted practice requires the removal of catheters after a 72-96 hour dwell time. Thus, even under the best circumstances, catheters have a relatively short life span that requires frequent adjustment and/or movement. Catheter failures and frequent catheter movement can result in costly catheter replacements and eventually to venous depletion. Venous depletion leads to more invasive, risky, and costly venous access devices.